A minimum of seven individuals lost their lives and numerous others are missing following a vessel ferrying approximately two hundred migrants trying to get to Europe overturned near the shoreline of the Gambian coast, reports confirm.
The vessel capsized on Wednesday midnight in the vicinity of Jinack village in the North Bank area and it was afterwards located "stranded on a sandbar", the Gambian military authorities stated in a release.
Nearly one hundred people have been rescued so far and a rescue operation continues for the remaining passengers who were traveling on the shipwrecked vessel that was heading towards the Spanish Canary Islands.
The dangerous voyage over the the Atlantic has become an increasingly common route for migrants from Africa trying to reach the EU.
Close to forty-seven thousand migrants arrived at the Spanish archipelago in 2024 and figures suggest more than 9,000 people have lost their lives trying.
Search and Rescue Efforts
Following the Wednesday incident, Gambia's naval forces began a rescue mission, deploying multiple navy ships and a commercial fishing craft that came to assist, the defence ministry said.
Reports indicate a number of those who died are not Gambian nationals and that their identities are still being verified.
The remains of the seven victims who died have been recovered, and ten of the survivors are said to be in grave health and receiving urgent medical care.
A Frequent Pathway
Gambia is a frequent corridor taken by migrants seeking to get to the EU, frequently via hazardous voyages over water and land.
Over the past few years, the European bloc has reached agreements with multiple North African nations aimed at limiting irregular migration.
